N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 POTATO GROWER 29 There were long lines to get your free baked potato at the Potato Bowl tailgating tent at the Alerus Center. The Shriners were out in full force at the Potato Bowl Parade held on Saturday morning before the football game. The fireworks were spectacular on Thursday night at Memorial Stadium after the World’s Largest French Fry Feed. (Continued from page 26) with a total of 8,154 pounds of fries being consumed by the hun- gry crowd crushing the old record by almost 3,000 pounds. The French Fry eating contest was another big success. The winner was Benny Irvine of Grand Forks who ate just over a pound of fries. After the French Fry Feed was over everyone made their way across the street to Memorial Stadium to attend a pep rally for the foot- ball game being played on Saturday. Employees of Black Gold Farms were on hand to give out coupons for a free five pound bag of potatoes redeemable at the local Hugo’s grocery store. They also handed out glow sticks to all the kids. At dusk after the pep rally a fireworks display was given. Friday afternoon was the University of North Dakota Fan Luncheon held at the Alerus Center. The Grand Marshal of this years Potato Bowl was Peter Johnson of the University of North Dakota. On Friday evening the Hugo’s Get Wet and Run Wild event was held at The Choice Health and Fitness Center. This was a great event for kids of all ages and the proceeds from the event goes to local food shelves to help those in need. This year we had over 200 particpants and we look to increase that for next year. The Potato Bowl Parade was held Saturday morning, September 9th before the football game. The parade had over 110 floats this year, all with a potato or football theme. The parade route returned to University Avenue in Grand Forks where people lined up and down the streets all along the parade route. After the parade everyone made their way over to the Alerus Center in Grand Forks for some tailgating fun. A Potato Bowl tail- gating tent served hundreds of fans who stopped by for a free baked potato bar, and refreshments before the game. Over 725 baked potatoes were served to the hungry crowd. This year’s Potato Bowl football game had a near capacity crowd of 12,000, the largest crowd for a Potato Bowl game since 2009. The University of North Dakota beat Missouri State University 34 to 0. It was a great way to finish Potato Bowl week and the first shut out for the Fighting Hawks since 2012. The Potato Bowl committee would like to thank all the sponsors and volunteers who help year after year to make this week a suc- cess. We look forward to seeing you all again at next year’s Potato Bowl event. For more information on Potato Bowl, USA visit: www.potatobowl.org.